When running your own business in today’s competitive market, having a strong brand identity is crucial in setting up who you are as a company and helping you to stand out from the crowd of competitors. But this is something that is often overlooked by new start-ups as it is often regarded as a low priority. However, so many start-ups failing within the first five years it is really important to set time aside and work on this if you are to succeed. To help you out, we’ve gathered the information on what you need to help drive you to success.
Strategy
The first step to building your brand identity is to nail what your brand strategy is. Simply put, your brand strategy defines what your goals are and what steps you have in place to achieve them. Having this in place will allow you to build content around who are as a business and reinforcing your brand identity. Your strategy will also encapsulate your company’s core values and the tone of voice which you can incorporate across all aspects of your business from the logo, graphics, customer experience and market strategy.
Audience
Once you have evolved your strategy, can then start to understand who your audience and target market is. Having this insight will also feed into what marketing strategy and help further define your brand identity as without knowing your user demographics are, you won’t be able to market or ‘talk’ to them. It’s recommended that you look to understand the following demographics; age, gender, location, income, marital status, occupation and their level of education.
Use this to build user profiles and then adjust your marketing strategy accordingly to where your target audience is. Of course, it goes without saying that you can also simply talk to your customers and see how they view you. Conduct some qualitative research such as focus groups and open-ended questionaries’ to fully get a grasp of how the general public perceives your company.
You can help expand who your audience is by conducting some market research to see how you stack up against your competitors. Find out what space you fill in the market and find where you fit in by underdoing a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) to help you identify your position. Check out online guides on how to build a strong brand identity and how you can run a SWOT to understand your demographic better.
Design
How well you brand your company copy and art direction, will either help strengthen your brand identity or confuse the consumer, so take the time to ensure this matches your overall strategy and key user base. Colour psychology is also an important part in defining who you are and shouldn’t be overlooked. If your company is more suited towards a younger audience, then stick to vibrant colours such as oranges and reds. If you are working in the financial sector, then stick to blues as is this the colour most associated with trust. Apply these colours to your copy, design and UX for maximum impact.